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ADVENTURES IN
LONDON, PART 1
London: The Anchor—a pub
worth a crawl
Today, there are more reasons than ever to escape to the south side of the Thames, not the
least of which is a visit to a thriving 17th century pub, The Anchor, still
slaking thirsts after all these years. Can you walk and read at the same time?
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The seamy, seedy south side of the Thames has
mostly been the wrong side of the tracks in London.
In Roman and medieval times it was the start of the countryside, unprotected by the walls
of the civilized city of the North Bank. Later, Renaissance London made the South Bank its
commercial port, the blue collar shoulders of the Elizabethan city-state. Here were exiled
wharf rats, criminals, actors and other ne’er-do-wells, persona non grata in Her
Majesty’s London Towne. To be sure, enough highbrowed Londoners crossed London Bridge
to Southwark’s Globe Theatre to enjoy a scandalous time at the latest play from the
bawdy Bard, Shakespeare. But the south side was more known for its dark, looming
warehouses and ghostly, fog-enshrouded piers, and that first infamous debtors’
prison, The Clink, than it was for great theater. And most City Londoners would have to be
forced to go across to the South Bank. When things got hot on the north bank in the 17th
century, they were. |
BEGIN WALKING THE
THAMES PATH AT ST. KATHARINE'S MARINA.
All
photos this page © HOME AT FIRST |
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THE WEEK LONDON
DISAPPEARED. |
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IS LONDON BURNING?
ST. PAUL'S
AS SEEN FROM THE SOUTH BANK
WITH SOUTHWARK BRIDGE. |
The impossibly crowded conditions of the
enclosed City on the North Bank reached the tinder mark in September, 1666. The forests of
Britain had been laid waste to house the swelling, prosperous population. Everywhere along
the convoluted streets of The City (that oldest part of
London, still partially walled from Roman and medieval times in 1666), thatched, wooden
buildings wedged shoulder to shoulder. Like Mrs. O’Leary’s frontier Chicago two
centuries later, London was a tinderbox awaiting a spark. When it finally
happened—early Sunday morning, September 2—the spark was a baker’s oven
fire that had not been doused. The fire
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quickly became a holocaust, trapping and killing thousands, and laying
waste to ancient London. Fortunately there was old London Bridge, the
original, fabled by nursery rhyme. Many of those who could flee escaped
over the already ancient bridge to Southwark, to safety.
When the smoke cleared, the City was
gone. Christopher Wren led the many who rebuilt it, no longer in a rude medieval
hodge-podge, but now in an impressive, optimistic, grand style. The Monument (near Bank)
is Wren’s memorial to the victims of the Great Fire. His St. Paul’s Cathedral,
built on the site of a church destroyed in the fire, is Wren’s crowning achievement,
monument to what was arguably the greatest city of the super power of the day.
The City of London we visit today is
architecturally about as old as Philadelphia. These two great English cities of the 17th
century shared many of the same architects and styles. However, hidden from most visitors,
and just across the new London Bridge, there remain many of the great relics of ancient
London, a London untouched by the Great Fire and the high-minded architects that followed. |
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GET THIRSTY WALKING THROUGH SOUTHWARK.
Start crawling from Home
at First’s London apartments at St. Katharine’s Marina. From St.
Katharine’s Marina follow the Thames Path west along the river west past the Tower of London and the Customs House to the London Bridge. Cross
London Bridge on the eastern sidewalk.
Cross Borough High
Street at the south side of the London Bridge. In just seconds your
marked path leaves the crush of bridge traffic behind by descending a
set of stairs. Here you enter a great sanctuary of peace and
spiritualitybeautiful, Gothic Southwark Cathedral, which dates from
about 1200 A.D. Although less remarked than Westminster Abbey
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THE
RIVER THAMES, LOOKING EAST
FROM LONDON BRIDGE. THERE'S
LOTS OF RIVER TRAFFIC, INCLUDING
THE MOORED HEAVY CRUISER HMS
BELFAST. THE TOWER BRIDGE MUST
OPEN ITS DRAWBRIDGE ROADWAY
TO PERMIT SHIPS OF SIGNIFICANT
HEIGHT TO ENTER THE DOWNTOWN
LONDON SECTION OF THE THAMES. |
| and St. Pauls,
its very obscurity has preserved its splendor. Nearly as old as
Westminster, Southwark Cathedral has surely counted more great
playwrights and actors among its reverent visitors than Hollywoods
Forest Lawn. |
GO TO PART 2:
You can visit pubs throughout LONDON
as part of your own
independent, custom-designed HOME AT FIRST travel itinerary.
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